The paperless office – digitalization in everyday office life

The paperless office – digitalization in everyday office life

Technical articles | 2. October 2017 | 2 min |

Paper consumption in Germany is continuously increasing. Despite digitalization and electronic document management systems, consumption is as high as in South America and Africa combined, as reported by the WWF.

In offices, a lot is printed out of habit, such as many e-mails, in order to add notes if necessary. However, these printouts often end up unprocessed in the wastepaper basket.

Many see these problems, but fear that switching to a paperless office will involve a lot of effort and high costs. In addition, work processes have to be changed or adapted. This puts most companies off. Nevertheless, the costs should be compared and the effort involved in further digitizing the workplace should be considered individually. In most cases, the changeover pays off very quickly and the paperless office becomes a decisive competitive advantage.

There are many different measures to approach paperless working:

  • A digital filing system with a well thought-out folder system, perhaps also in the form of a document management system, makes it easier to search for documents. With OCR (Optical Character Recognition), the text content of files is recognized and can also be used for searching.
  • One of the most important points is a regular and secure backup of the files and versioning so that documents can be restored from the backup in the event of unintentional deletion or modification.
  • For the digitization of existing documents, it is often worth investing in a powerful scanner – this does not have to be expensive, but should be tailored to the specific requirements. The accompio team will be happy to help you make the right choice.
  • Fully written and confusing notes can be replaced by tablets or laptops. To-do lists can also be managed here and notes and sketches can be easily exchanged with colleagues or project partners with just a few clicks.
  • Keep your letterbox empty. Many newspapers and magazines can be subscribed to digitally. After consultation with partners or suppliers, offers and invoices can also be sent in digital form.

The legal regulations on retention obligations, access options and archiving systems should always be observed when implementing the measures. For example, some documents must be kept in original form for the tax office.

Paperless working has many advantages. The environmental protection factor is one of the biggest and most important. In addition, the modern company also reduces costs for printers, toner and paper – not to mention the space saved for file folders.

If, for example, a private cloud is used to store documents, the data is available anytime and anywhere. This makes the workplace flexible and communication much easier.

In addition, many processes in the company can be improved and simplified through digitalization. This can save valuable time and make better use of resources.

If the cost of a completely paperless office seems too high at first, you can start with small changes and save time and money. With regard to the environment, “Think before you print” should always apply.

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